wasn't sure whether to put this in the living room or not... but I don't think many people outside of the UK will know who Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is.

Anyway, his new series on Channel 4, currently 2 episodes in focuses on making vegetarian meals with lots of lovely fresh produce, and whilst it does include dairy and eggs, there are actually very many vegan meals he creates on the show. I'm thouroughly enjoying it. Especially as, whilst I have agreed with his advocation that factory farmed meat is not the way forward, his previous programmes have concentrated on furthering more sustainable varieties of animals and fish. So its good to know that he hasn't ignored the simplest solution of all: plants! He really does enthuse over plant produce (brilliant to see this instead of a slab of flesh with a load of foodies wanking all over it) and I recommend giving this a watch

I haven't watched the programme yet, though it's on my SkyPlus. I did buy the book though - there is a fair bit of dairy but the vegan recipes are all labelled and substitutions should be very easy. Its a good book for when you don't want tofu, tempeh or seitan, yet unlike other similar books I've seen, it doesn't use ridiculously hard to find types of mushrooms or veg you'd need to get from a specialist. It's all about basics, really.

I keep missing the programme but I've got a hold placed on a copy of the book at the library so I'll probably get it in a couple of months. I did notice last Friday's Guardian column had meat in every recipe...

_________________#sexysocialism

"I will take a drugged, sex-crazed, punk rock commie over Mrs. Thatch any day of the week" - Vantine

he's said that he'll never become entirely vegetarian, but that the idea of the book and tv show was to try to educate people that, generally speaking, "we" (obviously not present company!) eat too much meat.it's a bit of a shame really, but i'm not surprised by his views either. if i was more cynical than i am these days, i'd dismiss the show (and his guardian columns of late) as purely being publicity for his new book however i'd like to believe that he is one of the few celebrity chefs that genuinely does care about people and the planet in general. unlike ramsay, for example, who only cares about his bank balance...

I keep missing the programme but I've got a hold placed on a copy of the book at the library so I'll probably get it in a couple of months. I did notice last Friday's Guardian column had meat in every recipe...

Do you remember the "vegan baking" series the Guardian ran earlier this year? The "master baker" clearly decided that he would neither research nor practice the recipes, and just made excuses about the texture being wrong and his pastry falling apart and concluded that vegan baking is crepe. I actually wrote to them and complained.

Anyway, I might watch this! Glad to see it's enthusiastic!

_________________Moon - "This is the best recipe in the history of recipes forever."

It sounds great but I can't stand him. I don't know why but I just can't watch the man.

haha, me too! i always thought he had this smug, self-important air about him that put me off, and the orgiastic meat binges i saw on his tv show didn't help. but somehow seeing this book in shops is turning me around - he's cut his hair, is eating vegetables, and isn't making that obnoxious-looking facial expression he normally seems to.

Gulliver wrote:

Do you remember the "vegan baking" series the Guardian ran earlier this year? The "master baker" clearly decided that he would neither research nor practice the recipes, and just made excuses about the texture being wrong and his pastry falling apart and concluded that vegan baking is crepe. I actually wrote to them and complained.

oh god, yes. that was a trainwreck. i'm glad you spoke up to them about it.

_________________vegan cheese bigamy is not allowed. - LisaPunk

So today at PPK I learned how to fork up a falafel and a taco. - craiger_ny

Do you remember the "vegan baking" series the Guardian ran earlier this year? The "master baker" clearly decided that he would neither research nor practice the recipes, and just made excuses about the texture being wrong and his pastry falling apart and concluded that vegan baking is crepe. I actually wrote to them and complained.

oh god, yes. that was a trainwreck. i'm glad you spoke up to them about it.

I was so disappointed in that because I am such a fan of Dan Lepard ordinarily, his breads have never failed me and I've successfully veganized many of his other recipes. Such a let-down.

_________________#sexysocialism

"I will take a drugged, sex-crazed, punk rock commie over Mrs. Thatch any day of the week" - Vantine

I misread that as Def Leppard for a minute there and was like huh, what thread am I in?

EmperorTomatoKetchup wrote:

baps wrote:

It sounds great but I can't stand him. I don't know why but I just can't watch the man.

haha, me too! i always thought he had this smug, self-important air about him that put me off, and the orgiastic meat binges i saw on his tv show didn't help. but somehow seeing this book in shops is turning me around - he's cut his hair, is eating vegetables, and isn't making that obnoxious-looking facial expression he normally seems to.

I think it's cuz I saw him eat placenta once and it made me gag so he still makes me gag.

I haven't bought a non vegan cookery book in a long while but was gifted this one

I go with EFCLiz's review in that the recipes are mainly vegetarian but easy to substitute to make vegan in many cases. They feel slightly odd in that the vegetarian ones are all eggs and dairy rather than any other products, but perhaps this fits into HFW's philosophy on growing and producing his own food?

Although he states that he will remain an omnivore, as a main stream chef at least he is trying to promote eating less in the way of animals. The book is clearly aimed at omnivores with the idea that they will cut down on their meat/fish consumption

I have to say that I've been really impressed with both the series and the book. Yes, quite a lot of the recipes are unsuitable for vegans but I'd say a good majority are easy to sub. Around a third or so is vegan already, at least another third could be made vegan, because the only reason that is isn't suitable is because he's using butter, but I'd say that there are pretty few that couldn't be subbed at all.